Photos: Making Madvillainy

March 01, 2004

These are three sets of photos from the making of DOOM & Madlib's album Madvillainy, 2002-2003. These photos by Egon, Madlib and Eric Coleman were published on the last version of our website at various times.

PART 1. In Summer 2002 we announced that MF DOOM and Madlib were working together on a project which, at that time, had no title or projected release date. The two first met up at the Stones Throw house in Los Angeles where Madlib's studio The Bomb Shelter existed in a former 1950s-era bomb shelter. Doom immediately immersed himself in Madlib's music and began writing lyrics and recording demos. He would continue revising lyrics and re-recording vocals for over a year. Scroll down for parts 2 & 3.

PART 2. Madlib took off to Brazil in late 2002 for the Red Bull Music Academy, where early cuts of Madvillain were premiered for the first time. (These demos were also copied here and subsequently bootlegged - we later released the demos on in Madvillainy 2: The Box).

Madlib took these photos himself in his hotel room where he worked on beats for Madvillain's "Strange Ways" and "Rhinestone Cowboy". These two and others were created using the only equipment available: a portable record player, an SP 303 and a borrowed cassette deck.

PART 3. Back in Los Angeles, mid-2003: DOOM & Madlib take over a bedroom to record vocals. Photographer Eric Coleman came through on this day and shot these photos which were used on singles and the album - some of these are taken from the photo proof sheet.